Love Letters
by J. Marguerite
Summary: [Battle Royale] Noriko isn't the only one who writes love letters... slightly slashy.


A/N: I love Battle Royale so very, very much, so, in my opinion, it was only a matter of time that I wrote a Battle Royale fic. This is, in case no one can tell, set in the novel-verse… I love the movie and the manga (in fact, this fic could work in the manga-verse), but the novel is my favourite… So… enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Battle Royale, nor the characters. I don't know own any rights to it, so don't sue!

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Shuya Nanahara was used to receiving love letters. So used to it in fact that he would receive at least five a week. It wasn't as impressive as Shinji Mimura's love letter weekly count which was getting close to twenty a week, but still impressive. Receiving letters from fans of his basketball playing or guitar rocking was all part of the norm for the fifteen-year-old rock-and-roll wannabe. There were the occasional corny love notes that read things like 'Roses are red, Violets are blue' with a dodgy line at the end. And then of course there were the exceptional ones- two, to be in fact. The first he received was written on pale blue stationary, written in small, curly writing, with a poem inside the enclosed envelope. From the look of the handwriting, he knew he hadn't received a letter from the author before, and by the brilliancy of the poem he suspected it'd be from one of the more literacy-wise members of his class. Perhaps Noriko, but if it were, nothing would happen if Shuya decided to follow up on it. Noriko was much too shy in his opinion, and they were friends. It would be uncomfortable if a relationship came out of it. All the same, it was a very nice letter, and when he took it home that afternoon, he placed it in his top drawer, which was next to Yoshitoki's, and also happened to be a rarity.

And then of course, there was the other exceptional letter he had received a day later. It wasn't as good as the previous one, but compared to some he received, it was ranking high on the 'Oh my God, I think I'll keep this one' scale (the only other one being on such a list belonging to the one he suspected to be from Noriko). It was on much simpler paper, crisp white with an emblem in the top-right corner that the boy didn't recognize. All the same, it looked very formal and Shuya felt almost humble to read it. Yet he did, and when he finished, he felt much better for doing, although quite flustered. And when he arrived back at the orphanage that night, he folded it back in into the envelope it had been in, and placed it in his top drawer, next to the pale blue one, and fell asleep with a smile on his face. It was so nice to know he was loved by two people that bothered to write legible love notes to him.

Shuya wasn't the only one who suspected that Noriko was the one who had placed the first love letter in his desk. In fact, the other person didn't suspect, he _knew_. That was one of the good things about being considered one of the 'classroom delinquents'. Kazuo Kiriyama could be the only one in class before school started, reading quietly, and anyone could prance in, place a note in someone's desk, prance out, and not worry about the emotionless boy saying or doing anything… which was exactly what Noriko Nakagawa in the middle of April. Okay, she didn't prance, and she looked quite embarrassed when she noticed Kazuo, but she slid the note into the Wild Seven's desk, and raced out before the blush on her cheeks could grow any brighter. And that was when Kazuo got his idea.

He had seen plenty a girl (and the occasional boy, but that was mostly Sho Tsukioka, whom he couldn't care less of, but that generally applied to everyone) place a love letter in their crush's desk. Some during school time, when they thought no one was looking, and some after or before, such as what Noriko had done that April day. Kazuo never got the point of it. If they felt such a way about someone, why not go and just tell them? Of course, the boy had never felt such a way about anyone other than apathy, so he didn't know the embarrassment, the hot flushes, the clammy hands, and the breathless, almost giggly excitement when the person of your dreams briefly crossed their eyes over you during math. All he knew was what he saw, what he learnt and picked up from his classmates. Noriko would occasionally tilt her head just slightly in class to look at Shuya out of the corner of her eye. Yoshitoki Kuninbobu would turn around during class, and pretend to be trying to signal something to Shuya, but when he went to turn back around he would leave a prolonged glance in Noriko's direction. Chisato Matsui would always, particularly during literature lessons, would rest her hand on her cheek and sigh in the direction of The Third Man, Shinji Mimura, the other boy who was rather abundant in fans.

Everyday seemed to be Valentine's Day for Class B, lovesick sighs coming from every which direction; notes being passed about; girls giggling as they revealed secret crushes and boys uncomfortably talking to girls. Kazuo just never understood it. So that's why he decided to try it out. Just like the violin, he would do it for kicks. It may be useful in the future, though he couldn't possibly predict how. He would write a love letter to someone in class, although the 'love' part was rather useless because he didn't feel anything for anyone. But first, he needed a recipient.

There were forty-one other students in his class, and one thing he did know was that he didn't want someone gushing over a letter and that more or less immediately kicked out the girls. Megumi Eto would probably have a heartache if she received it, Kaori Minami would probably pass out from shock and Yuka Nakagawa would be determined to find out who sent it. And so that left the males of the class. On top of not wanting someone to gush over it, Kazuo _did_ want someone to recognize the effort he put into it, however little he did put into it, that is. Yoshio Akamatsu would probably be to crazed to see the work put into it just simply because he had received such a letter, Kazusha Niida would probably want to rape whoever sent it, be them male or female, and Toshinori Oda would just consider it filth. And as Kazuo pondered this as class started that day, barely paying attention to the teacher, he realized the class was filled with more delinquents then he thought. And that was when Yoshitoki turned in his chair, grinned at Shuya Nanahara, gave Noriko Nakagawa a side-long glance, who had already had her head turned in the direction of the boy Yoshitoki had just grinned at.

Shuya Nanahara- it was, in Kazuo's mind- a perfect choice. Why not, Kazuo saw him read every letter he had received, which was more then what Shinji Mimura did. And Shuya was more then your run-of-the-mill school student. He understood the value of the written word (or at least Kazuo picked this up during music class when Shuya screeched out lyrics of 'rock' songs, but Kazuo wasn't the least bit interested in that).

So that afternoon, after figuring out his lucky recipient of his first, and quite possibly only, written love letter, Kazuo Kiriyama set to work. He pulled a sheet of paper out of his desk, grabbed a pen, and thought. That was when he realized he didn't know how to write such a thing- he had never received one. But no matter, he didn't know how to do judo either, and he taught himself that. He went down to the library in his life, grabbed a few books on poetry and other sappy things, and skimmed through them. None of them said much about how to write love letters, but he figured all he needed was to proclaim his undying love for Shuya and that'd be good enough.

And two hours, ten sheets of paper and several cups of Irish tea later, Kazuo had finished it. He didn't think it was too bad- compared to what he had originally started out with, which was about was good as his gym teacher's high kicks. He sealed it in a simple white envelope, stuck a sticker of a panda bear that he found in the bottom drawer of the kitchen cupboard on the back of the envelope as that seemed to be the norm, and placed it in his school bag. The next morning he arrived early as usual, placed it in Shuya's desk, and walked to his own seat, feeling somewhat amused. Not amused as any 'normal' person would feel it, but as if he understood what his peers went through when they wrote love letters. And, if he knew how, Kazuo would have smiled when he sat down in his seat. Several students sidled into the room, one of them being Shuya himself. He watched, curious, as Shuya opened his desk, and found the envelope. He glanced about, opened it with a flick of his wrist, and took out the letter. Kazuo watched him read it, hands folded on his desk, and his amusement grew as he saw Shuya smile. All Kazuo had done was write a poem about dreams and love and whatever else sprung into his mind, but it must have been considered good to someone other than himself, because by now Shuya was blushing bright red, much to the entertainment of his group of friends. He had had a similar reaction to Noriko's letter. Clearly it was a rare day when Shuya managed to receive a letter that was adequate and not screaming 'I-want-to-marry-Shuya-Nanahara-and-make-many-many-babies-to-him'-esque. Now Shuya, in Kazuo's opinion, had two legible love notes (his own and Noriko's), and, in Kazuo's own way, that was a pleasant feeling.

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A/N: So, like, no like? Please review, and tell me what ya think 


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